Stacey Hoffman, a waitress dressed as a nurse, seasons a batch of Flatliner Fries at the Heart Attack Grill in Tempe, Ariz. A national nursing group calls the restaurant's portrayal of nurses dressed in skimpy outfits an insult to the profession.
Tempe, Ariz. - The Heart Attack Grill - a theme restaurant with specialties that include the Quadruple Bypass Burger and Flatliner Fries, cooked in pure lard - is making health care professionals' blood pressure rise, but not from food.
The waitresses wear skimpy, cleavage-baring nurse uniforms, high heels and thigh-high stockings - a male fantasy that some nursing organizations say is an insult.
Several nurses have complained to the Arizona attorney general's office, and a national nursing group has repeatedly asked owner Jon Basso to stop using the outfits.
"Nurses are the most sexually fantasized-about profession," said Sandy Summers, executive director of the Center for Nursing Advocacy in Baltimore. "We're asking people, if they're going to have these fantasies, please don't make it so public."
Basso shrugs off Summers' complaints and refers to her and her supporters as prudes, cranks and lunatics.
"If anything, I think it glorifies nurses to be thought of as a physically attractive and desirable individual," Basso said. "There's a Faye Dunaway, Florence Nightingale hipness to it. Nobody wants to think of themselves as some old battle-ax who changes bedpans for a living."
Last year, the Arizona attorney general's office wrote Basso a letter informing him that he is illegally using the word "nurse" at his restaurant and on his Web site (www.heartattackgrill.com). Citing Arizona Statute A.R.S. 32-1636, the attorney general said that only someone who has a valid nursing license can use the title "nurse."
Basso refused to remove "nurse" from his Web site but inserted an asterisk next to every nurse reference and included the following disclaimer:
"The use of the word 'nurse' above is only intended as a parody. None of the women pictured on our Web site actually have any medical training, nor do they attempt to provide any real medical services. It should be made clear that the Heart Attack Grill and its employees do NOT offer any therapeutic treatments (aside from laughter) whatsoever."
Basso said the complaints have helped his year-old business. "All they've done is ensure there's going to be a gajillion of these all over the country."
Diners can choose Single, Double, Triple and Quadruple Bypass cheeseburgers. The Quadruple has four half-pound beef patties, four pieces of cheese and a mound of bacon.
"Essentially, it's nutritional porno-graphy. It's so bad for you it's shocking," Basso said.
Courtney Chapman, a 20-year-old waitress at the grill, said she found nothing wrong with the uniform or the stares.
"They definitely look at us, but they're guys," she said.